Eternal memory: the artist creates memorial beads from the ashes of the dead people
California-based artist Merry Coor has been making glass beads since 2000, but that all changed last year when a young couple asked her if she could add some of their deceased friend's ashes to a bead as a keepsake. Mary agreed, and since then she has been making custom-made memorial beads that a person who has lost a loved one can always carry with them.
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2. Mary has her own studio in California, where she creates and takes orders even from other countries and cities.
3. “If you want me to create a memorial bead for you, but you are not in California, then I will send you a soft envelope with instructions and a small pewter container in which you place half a teaspoon of ashes and any photo, letter or story about the person who left you. When your bead is ready, I will mail it to you."
4. Creation process
5. “I melt the glass and pour it into a round mold to give it the shape of a ball. The ash is incorporated into the spiral pattern on the bead, and then the whole structure is covered with a transparent layer of glass. The ashes become part of the bead and will always be with you.”
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